"anyone who chooses a life without children, as Gillard has, cannot have much love in them"

from a (male) Labor hack (note that Gillard is Labor too).

First of all it is a disgusting comment from a disgusting human (the guy is an anti-American nationalist/bigot too). I would suggest that he is the one who has no love in him if he is unable to see the love given by childless people to others. It's just another form of bigotry - bigotry against childless people, lumping them all together and then ascribing a single trait to them. If this was a serious issue (e.g. gangs of parents roaming the streets of Sydney painting empty cribs on people's doors because they chose not to have children before a certain age and then firebombing the houses), then it would deserve its own forum.

I post in the sexism forum since someone else suggested the remark was sexist. Not quite sure why that would be the case though. I remember the same remark being made against a male politician too (a NSW Premier, also Labor) by John Hewson in the Liberal (right-wing economically) party. The comment was "how can you trust a guy who doesn't like kids?" (he was never asked whether he liked kids or not - seems that making up opinions for others is a lot more convenient) or similar. Although I supported Hewson's party, I was quite unimpressed at him slandering childless people.

Quite frankly, politics is a full-time (7 * 52) job, and you could argue that people who abandon their family to pursue a career in politics, instead of leaving it to people who are willing to sacrifice a normal life with children, are the ones who have no love in their hearts. But I wouldn't make that argument either. There's nothing wrong with either men or women choosing to not have kids, and assuming bad faith about this group of people is an inherently evil thing to do.

I remember the NSW Premier said he wouldn't dignify the comment with a response, and Hewson apologized too.